On Saturday, we highlighted a rather disturbing statistic.
60+ day delinquencies for subprime auto ABS have now risen above crisis levels to 5.16% - levels we haven't seen since 1996.
Submitted by Charles Huigh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,
Cheap imports, offshoring of production and the global expansion of financial markets have driven U.S. corporate and financial profits to unprecedented heights.
Earlier today Fed President Evans said this "I think the economic fundamentals [of the US] are really quite good." As the following three charts show, there is only one thing that looks "quite good" and it is not 'economic fundamentals'...
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans says “we expect 2016 growth will be 2 to 2.5 percent and I think the fundamentals are really quite good for the economy going forward.”
One week ago we were stunned to learn, and report, that as part of the "sentencing" of former NY Fed employee Jason Gross who had admitted to stealing confidential Federal Reserve information and passing it on to his former boss Rohit Bansal, then employed at Goldman Sachs, in hopes of generating goodwill and a comfortable post-Fed job at 200 West, he somehow managed to avoid any jail time and instead was slapped with a draconian penalty: a $2,000 fine.... oh and some community service.
Jason Gross
Overall crude inventories rose for the 6th week in a row according to API. Despite draws in Gasoline, Distillates, and Cushing; Crude inventories surged 8.8mm barrels - the 2nd biggest weekly build in a year.
API, according to RTRS:
This was a big draw in Cushing but appears to be dominated by the surge in overall inventories...